When he made that promise in December, Papenfuse said the cash-strapped city could fix those widespread streetlight outages, thanks to an unusual financing arrangement that required no out-of-pocket expense.

A lighting company was offering to install super-energy-saving bulbs in the city's streetlight fixtures. To pay for the work, the city would pledge a share of its future savings on electricity and maintenance from using long-lasting, high-efficiency LED bulbs. (The arrangement is known as a "guaranteed energy savings contract.")

Before proceeding, Papenfuse said in December that he wanted to let other companies have a chance to make a similar proposal and see which one offered the best deal.

In that document, the city says it expects the new streetlight bulbs to be installed by December 2015 – 17 months from now and 12 months after the original target Papenfuse set.

An ambitious project

The city's top priority is replacing what are known as the "cobra head" streetlights – the tall, arching metallic gray ones with the bulb that looks like a snake eye. Typically found along the busier roads, there are at least 4,270 of them, according to the inventory that's included with the city's solicitation of interest to vendors.

If the financing plan allows, the Papenfuse administration would also like the chosen vendor to install the LED bulbs in the "acorn" or decorative lamps found on neighborhood streets in many parts of the city. Harrisburg has at least 1,122 of those.

All told, the city estimates that it has 6,161 streetlights that could be converted. (To see an example of what the new LED lights look like, visit Penn and Herr Streets in Midtown or the 3100 block of Susquehanna Street. The light is really white and bright.)

Where will the money come from?

It's not clear how many of those lights the city can get replaced simply by pledging money that will be saved on future electricity bills.

The city told prospective vendors that in May, it spent about $64,000 to run streetlights. Presumably the bill was significantly higher during the dark days of winter, when the lights were on longer.

The money spent on those bills is the pool that will produce the guaranteed energy savings from using LEDs. Those savings, the city told vendors, should "provide the City of Harrisburg with cash savings sufficient to fund the City of Harrisburg's payments of all costs and fees."

The Market Street Bridge, where many of the classy decorative lights were burned out, has new bulbs installed. Streetlight supervisor Kevin Baum says his crews regularly go out to fix other lights that don't work. Nonetheless, a nighttime drive almost anywhere around Harrisburg will discover several streetlights – or more – that are out.

Until the LED conversion is complete, it's a tough game of catchup for Baum and his tiny crew. Besides taking care of all the past problems with those 6,000+ streetlights, he and four workers are also responsible for scores of traffic lights and hundreds of traffic signs citywide.

Clearing the entire backlog of streetlight repairs will require a citywide surge of work. That work is now being planned — but it's going to come a year later than Mayor Papenfuse originally promised.

What is the streetlight situation in your neighborhood? Tell us in the comments below.

If a streetlight is broken or out in your neighborhood, the best way to report it is by emailing askpw@cityofhbg.com. The city can respond faster if you include the identifying numbers for the light, found on the lamppost at about eye level.

Matt Zencey is Deputy Opinion Editor of PennLive and The Patriot-News. Email mzencey@pennlive.com and one Twitter @MattZencey.